Making a business case internally for event resources and cross departmental support emerged as a key challenge facing many in-house professional conference organisers at ABPCO’s round table event held at the QEII Conference Centre this week.
Attended by conference organisers from some of the UK’s largest associations, including UCAS, British Association of Dermatologists, British Small Animal Veterinary Association (BSAVA) and a number of healthcare and other associations, the event gave in-house organisers a forum to air current burning issues and share ideas and good practice on how to address a range of concerns. Other key topics discussed included new sponsorship models and exploratory discussions around funding free attendance at association membership events entirely through sponsorship. The discussion was chaired by newly appointed ABPCO board member Pam Aston of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MND).
ABPCO Chair Jennifer Jenkins commented: “There were a number of issues raised at this our first forum for in-house organisers and participants were able to share experiences which genuinely benefitted the group. We are delighted that everyone took such an open approach to airing their concerns which led to some genuine discussions around how current issues could be addressed.”
ABPCO, the only UK body to represent the individual interests of professional conference organisers, aims to create further opportunities for in-house organisers to share experiences and exchange ideas throughout 2013 and beyond. ABPCO’s next in-house PCO forum will look at sponsorship and will be announced in the next couple of months.
